I.A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic infrastructure for an operating room. More particularly, the present invention relates to a simplified infrastructure for an operating room that allows control of highly complex devices and provides for communication among devices.
I.B. Description of Related Art
A modern surgical operating room can be viewed as either the pinnacle of technological development or an example of shortcomings of modern technology. Within the operating room surgeons must perform increasingly complex procedures through progressively smaller openings in their patient's bodies while incurring the lowest possible incidence of complications and side effects. The exponential growth of medical knowledge and the rapid development and deployment of new therapeutic technologies intensify these demands. These developments constitute a constantly changing standard of care in the treatment of specific conditions from which the surgeon must rapidly choose the optimal care for a given patient during a surgical procedure. These decisions must be made within the financial context of a typical hospital experiencing tighter fiscal restraints and managed and staffed by employees experiencing rapid turnovers. In such a financial context, an experienced surgeon supported by experienced technicians is a rare combination.
Within this environment, consider the expectations of both the patient and society of the process that occurs within the operating room. A patient with a complex disease undergoes surgery in a setting that consumes financial resources at an unprecedented rate than can be higher than many complex manufacturing processes. The surgical process places a human life at risk using technologically complex devices, but with the expectation that the patient will emerge substantially unchanged except for the correction of the disorder for which the patent is being treated. After treatment, the patient is wheeled out of the operating room and another patient, usually with a completely different but equally demanding condition, is brought in to undergo a completely different procedure which may have little similarity in the procedure just performed. This process is repeated throughout the day with minimal time between each case and with each patient expecting optimal quality and results from the complex procedures.
An industrial analogy for the operating room could be a factory optimized to produce a complex computer and then, within a few minutes, changed completely to produce an automobile. This production facility would have extremely low tolerance for any error, employ a constantly changing non-technical work force, and operate on an imperative to minimize the time required to produce goods and to change production modes. The analogy can be extended further by noting that the manufacturing process to produce either the computer or automobile could change weekly due to technical innovations in both products. Finally, the exact form of the computer or car produced changes with each and every unit manufactured, as no two computers or cars in the medical analogy are exactly alike.
The pace of technical innovation promises to change not only which surgical procedures are performed, but also how the procedures are carried out. The imperative to improve patient care will compel the surgeon to employ increasingly complex devices, each of which have profound effects upon the nature of the surgical process. An example of technology deployment is the operative MRI scanner, in which the entire surgical process must be performed in the hostile environment of a strong magnetic field. Few industrial processes could accommodate such a drastic change in their production facility.
The individual in charge of this process, the surgeon, is also changing in response to external demands. Surgeons are experiencing increasing pressure to reduce the cost of their interventions and maximize the number of patients they see. The result is that they often do not have sufficient time to familiarize themselves with either complex surgical devices or the specific anatomy of the patient, or to keep up with every change in medical therapeutics as it occurs. Even trying to control complex devices during surgery can be challenging, given the sterile work environment of the surgeon. For example, many electronic devices do not tolerate sterilization, and foot switches are commonly employed to control surgical devices. This may lead to a phalanx of foot pedals on the floor to control a number of complex devices. Finally, surgical experience dealing with a specific disease process is dissipating. In order to control costs and to support their income, surgeons are under pressure not to refer patients with complex medical problems away to experts. The result is that surgeons with less expertise, time, and experience may be treating complex surgical conditions. This produces a need to assist the surgeon with control of multiple complex surgical devices in the operating room, and to present the surgeon with information critical for success in rendering operative decisions. This information may include the assistance of a surgical consultant who may need control of the devices within the operating room even though the consultant is located at a distance from the actual operation.